Job Discussion Forums

[chengdu619]

I am looking at university jobs at the monent and I notice that the majority offer free on-campus housing. This looks great at first glance, but my girlfriend will be coming to China some time after me and we want to live together. I have heard that the university staff can get pretty puritanical in their treatment of foreigners who live in campus housing. Does anyone have any experience with this? In particular, does anyone work at a university and live off campus in private housing?

Thanks

[hiptoclip]

Living on campus, or off campus is as different as night and day. Most schools provide an on campus housing. Which means..... your living on school grounds, students will see you, teachers as well. You will have little to no privacy. It matters where the apartment on campus is located. I've lived on campus, and off, but both apartments were provided by the school. In my opinion it's not worth paying your own money for an apartment. So.... how do you make it work ? About the girlfriend... you decide if you will tell the front office of the school about her. But.... do not tell your students about her, as # 1, it's not their business, #2 they will treat you different, as soon as they know. Yes you should be able to have your girlfriend live with you, but watch how you act on campus. I would advice not to hold hands on campus as the students look at you as a professional. Once your off campus grounds, do whatever you want. if students see you two together, just say hello, then go about your business. No matter how you act, rumors will spread about your life, but these are simple examples for you to have contol over it. So remember, you are here to work as a teacher, but have your own life as well. You can do that on campus, since the apartment should be good enough to live in, and it's free. But remember, on campus everyone's watching.

[suanlatudousi]

Yes, the EVIL holding of hands ... god forbid - don't do THAT

[Tainan]

I lived on campus during my first week at the univ. of technology at Dalian. It was a small room without a kitchen, but with a bathroom and a little porch. I had a bed, a desk, and a thermos of hot water was placed there every day. There were cleaning women who tended to come in at the worst possible time--for example, just when I had a half hour for a nap in the middle of the day. Should I have stayed? The obvious big drawback would have been inability ever to cook. On the other hand, there would have been no expenses, and no cleaning or anything, so I would have led a dorm-like or even monastic-like life, with lots of free time for studying, and the ability to save money.

Instead I found a place off-campus. It was a beautiful apartment with a decent bedroom, big sunny room that doubled as a dining room/living room, nice little kitchen. I ended up spending a fortune to furnish and decorate it; I ended up buying a huge amount of cooking equipment and cooking all the time, and stocking a fairly full bar and making cocktails, and an orange-juice-squeezer which resulted in lots of fresh squeezed orange juice in the morning. It was nice--but expensive. Then I hired a cleaning lady to clean three times a week. On the other hand, the university paid 1500 for apartment-rental allowance, whereas the apartment only cost 1000 a month, so that was an extra 500. (I paid the cleaning lady 400 a month).

So--did I make the right decision? How many hours did I spend leading the life of the gracious host/entertainer when I could have been studying Chinese? If I had eaten at the cafeteria every day, instead of cooking lavishly, how much money would I have saved? And a few thousand RMB more would have been very nice when vacation time rolled around. Your lifestyle may be very different from mine but in terms of time and money it may be to your advantage to live on-campus. But do you really want to live in a narrow dorm room for a year?

As for your girlfriend, I've never heard of that situation--but I know one woman who lost her job for having a man (okay, it was one of her students, but still....) in her room overnight. Your American girlfriend might be different, but then might not be; many schools simply have a "no-overnight-guests" rule. But even if it is ok--I really can't see two people living for any amount of time in a small little dorm room without kitchen etc. If she is going to be teaching on campus, and have her own room in the same dorm, so you could "visit" each others rooms but still have your own, that would be nice.

[chengdu619]

Thanks everyone!! I have decided it is absolutely necessary for me to live off-campus, regardless of the extra costs. Do you think alerting the university about this during the application process is a good idea? It seems to be, considering that, in doing so, I might be able to negotiate a housing allowance. And no, heh, I could not imagine us living in a narrow room with no privacy from my work environment. That would get very old very quickly. I do not live lavishly by any means, but separation of work and state is a must:)

[chengdu619]

P.S. Tainan, how much of a hassle, legally that is, was it to move off campus after your first week?

[suanlatudousi]

Legally ?

There is NO LEGAL REQUIREMENT that you live on campus or in school provided housing -- despite what some schools may tell you

[bradley]

See if there is anything in the contract about living off campus already or you need to negotiate something.

[teachaus]

From what I have heard though there is often a big difference between the accommodation provided to foreign teachers compared to foreign students .... From what the poster who wrote in detail about his provided accommodation I gather that he was a student rather than a teacher at the time ... The student accommodation seems to be more basic and including much less than the typical foreign teacher accommodation ... so don't base your decision just on this posting ... I think what is important is to get a clear idea from the schools you are considering about what the accommodation is like ... and what your options are ... I would gather though that whether you live on or off campus you may still get some flack if your girlfriend is living with you ... on needing to uphold morality grounds

[kev7161]

My school provides a huge variety of choices when it comes to accommodations. For example. I live off-campus in a somewhat nice/somewhat shabby 2 bedroom apartment, all utilities paid - - alone. Others live off-campus in a 2-bedroom shared apartment or alone or with a spouse or . . . etc. On campus living is either a "studio" apartment with a little kitchenette (microwave, small fridge, electric burners) and personal bathroom while others live (alone or shared) in quite nice, fully-set up 2 bedroom places.

The advantage of living on campus of course are all the free meals you care to have (or can stomach!), and the ability to go home in the middle of the day when you are not teaching as well as being able to get up half an hour before your first class. Some teachers are frustrated with lack of good internet service and poor television choices.

Living off-campus of course is more expensive due to the fact that I shop and cook most of my meals. Also, I have furnished my home in the 4 years I've been here with various things (biggest being a treadmill and a sofa). I rarely "entertain" but have enjoyed the occasional overnight guest with no feeling of someone checking up on me.

I much prefer living off-campus however. It makes me feel that, when I leave work, I'm LEAVING work!

[China.Pete]

An on-campus apartment or hotel room can be a major part of your compensation package. While I would watch my comportment with a Western "friend" while on or near the campus, I don't see why it should pose a serious problem at most schools. Just ask if you are in doubt. (A Chinese friend can be another matter: some schools are pretty understanding, particularly if it's a steady; others have an "absolutely no Chinese after hours" policy.)

Trouble is, many on-campus flats can be decidedly substandard, and your run-of-the mill slumlord university is unlikely to stump for a generous housing allowance for a foreign teacher when they've already invested heavily in fleabag apartments. �1,000-1,500 a month seems to be about par, if they offer anything at all. So, I'd say that on-campus housing is great to have when it's adequate; otherwise, you're relegated to whatever they offer, or what you can afford on the rental market.

[Tainan]

It wasn't a hassle at all--we had to go to four or five different places (police station, immigration...) to get various papers stamped and signed. The professor who was assigned to helping me settle in drove me to the various offices and did the translating. It was almost comic; each time we thought we were finished and then the guy would say "now you need to take this to _________ and get it stamped there....." I think it took a lot of one afternoon but was not a hassle.

[shenyanggerry]

I've lived in three university supplied apartments, all with my Chinese girlfriend. I had no problem having her with me. She was 49 and I was in my early 60's. That may have made a difference.

The first apartment was on campus and included utilities, maid service and internet. It was small with one bedroom, a tiny kitchen and a livingroom/office whatever. There was an enclosed balcony but it was never used. My only problem was that the doors were locked around 10:00 PM. I had to wake up three people to get in; the guard at the campus gate, the keeper of the outer door and the keeper of the inner door.

The later places were bigger but utilities were not included.